Two die in Giza neighbourhood: FJP and police denies deaths

The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) said two people died Thursday in Giza ‘s Al-Mohandessin neighbourhood, as protesters mark one year since the deadly dispersal of the Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Al-Nahda encampments.

In a call at 2.20pm, Ministry of Interior spokesman Hany Abdel Latif said “no deaths had occurred” so far. People have taken to protest in various parts throughout the country in response to calls for protests described by the Ministry of Interior as “not peaceful”.

He added that things are going well and that there are “very limited Muslim Brotherhood practices” and that they are ineffective.

The FJP said on its official page that “revolutionaries” have blocked several roads, including major roads throughout the country.

The ministry said it arrested two people in the Upper Egypt governorate of Minya for starting fires on the railways, halting train movement between Aswan and Cairo. It added that it arrested an alleged member of the Muslim Brotherhood, in possession of gasoline to make Molotov cocktails, as part of its efforts to abort the plans of the “terrorist organisation”.

The Anti-Coup Alliance, a coalition that includes the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing, the FJP had called for mass protests on Thursday, which marks one year since police dispersed the Rabaa and Al-Nahda encampments organised to show support for ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

Exact figures on the number of protester killed during the dispersals are still disputed.

WikiThawra, a website dedicated to documenting the Egyptian revolution, put the death toll of the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in dispersal at 969 and that of Al-Nahda dispersal at 96. Official figures are lower. The Forensics Authority announced 627 deaths in the Rabaa Al-Adaweya dispersal and 21 in Al-Nahda.

Human Rights Watch said they could confirm 817 deaths in the Rabaa dispersal, “making it one of the world’s largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history.” In a report based on a one-year investigation, the international watchdog said the dispersal “probably” amounted to crimes against humanity, in a report based on a one-year investigation.

Since the ouster of former president and Muslim Brotherhood politician Mohamed Morsi, Brotherhood and FJP members, including Morsi, have been the subject to an arrest campaign and numerous have been put on trial on a wide range of charges.

Activities of the Muslim Brotherhood organisation were banned by court in September. In December, the cabinet of then-prime minister Hazem El-Beblawi designated the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation.